Modern printing systems often include document finishing options such as, e.g., hole punching, stapling, binding, or various folding options such as V-folding, C-folding, and Z-folding. In many systems, these document finishing options are set at the printer station after the document has been created thereby leading to some confusion as to setting the correct finishing options and/or whether the finishing options will conflict with the printed document. For example, if a document was created with a narrow left margin and hole punches are selected as document finishing options on the left side of the document, it is possible that the hole punching will occur through printed text on the document. Unfortunately, this is not determined until after the document has started printing, thereby creating ousted materials and time.
Even if the document finishing options are determined by a user at a workstation where the document is being prepared, some confusion may exist as to exactly where the finishing options will be applied and whether or not there is a conflict between the selected finishing option and document text. The confusion exists because, currently, printer settings in, e.g., a printer properties menu, do not have any visualization for the finishing options that the printer/multi-function device can offer. This can also lead to ambiguous choices for positioning of staples, holes, and folds, etc. A simple example of an ambiguous finishing option choice would be where the user selects a stapling option for the top left corner and also the bottom right corner of a document. There is a need, therefore, for an improved method of selecting document finishing options in order to avoid the aforementioned confusion and possibility of ambiguous choices.